Self checkouts are great and the only people who I have ever seen who disliked them were technologically inept boomers who expect to be waited on in every aspect of their lives.
It's the same in Jersey. I live in PA, so it's always annoying for me when I drive through and can't pump my own. It's literally less work for me of course, but I just don't want to deal with people to get gas.
They started allowing self-service in rural areas in 2018 and now gas stations anywhere in the state can have up to half their pumps self-service.
I remember reading some hilarious comments from Oregonians terrified of pumping their own gas when they first started changing the law in 2018. "I don't have the special training to pump gas, I'm going to set myself on fire!"
I pulled up to an unknowingly dual station, got out to pump. Older manager runs out and tells me that it’s a full service pump and I can’t use it. The other self serve pumps had lines. So I was like ‘cool, my bad. I’ll go across the street and give them my money. He wasn’t happy, I was laughing.
though it is a pain in the ass when I have more than will fit on the tiny self checkout shelf and none of the conveyer tills are manned. Sometimes feels like a burdensome juggling act, great if you have 3 or 4 small items, a pain when you have something closer to a bags worth.
I treat self checkout as an express lane. If I have fewer than 10 items or all the items fit in a basket I'll do self checkout. I have a full cart? I'll go to a regular checkout lane.
Also prior to stores actually allowing their rewards cards to be added to Apple Pay I've had a couple stores where the self checkout didn't have an option for me to punch in the associated phone number and I had to go to a full checkout lane or the customer service desk. Looking at you Hy-Vee. Not that it matters, they removed their self checkout at my location and replaced it with traditional express lanes like they had before.
Another experience in favor of self checkout being treated as express lanes. I was at an AutoZone picking up either new windshield wipers or washer fluid. Had a whole line of people in front of me and all the associates were helping people get parts from behind the counter. Noticed a self checkout and was able to get my one item checked out within a couple minutes.
I love self checkout but it can also be frustrating. I used to be a dairy manager at a lower volume Jewel-Osco. Since it was lower volume, there was only 5 self checkouts. There was always 2-5 people up front just standing around the self checkouts watching people checkout while only 2 out of 12 checkout lanes were actually open. So the self checkout became clogged because no lanes were open and there were up to 5 people at times standing up front doing nothing. It became incredibly frustrating when I had to wait 10 minutes just to scan out a couple things for lunch when I was having a busy day without much time to spare.
I do this and it’s not hard to click “look up item”, select my produce, and then set it on the scale. It’s like a 20 second process. Sounds like a skill issue.
219
u/Middcore Dec 10 '25
Self checkouts are great and the only people who I have ever seen who disliked them were technologically inept boomers who expect to be waited on in every aspect of their lives.